This invention relates generally to processing customer issues and in particular to a method and system for facilitating processing of customer issues with reduced human intervention. Currently, customer issues are reported to a vendor through a method that requires substantial effort by the vendor. The customer or a vendor field representative contacts the vendor, typically by telephone, and provides a description of the issue and other relevant information. Vendor customer support personnel then enter the customer issue in a database and initiate a customer issue resolution process. This requires assigning the customer issue to vendor personnel, contacting the customer, discussing the issue, etc. The process is time-consuming and labor intensive on the part of the vendor. In addition, errors in the information provided from the customer to the vendor may occur due to the high degree of human involvement. Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for facilitating processing of customer issues.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention is a method of processing customer issues using a server coupled to a user system by a network. The method includes providing the user system with a customer issue form including a plurality of fields to be completed. The completed customer issue form is provided to the server. Customer issue information from the completed customer issue form is added to a customer issue database. A notification is generated and provided to a vendor authority in response to one of the fields.
Another exemplary embodiment of the invention is a method for facilitating return of a product from a customer to a vendor using a server coupled to a user system by a network. The method includes providing the user system with a customer issue form including a plurality of fields to be completed. The completed customer issue form is provided to the server and the server provides the user system with a machine-readable identifier corresponding to a customer issue defined in the customer issue form. The machine-readable identifier is included along with the product returned to the vendor from the customer.